Sunday, June 11, 2006 | 7:34 a.m.
As Dennis Hopper strode across the deck at ghostbar on the 55th floor of the Palms and looked down on the Strip, he was reminded that he has deep roots in Las Vegas.
"There's been a lot of change since I first came here," Hopper said early Friday evening during a party hosted by Hollywood Reporter to kick off the 2006 CineVegas Film Festival. The 70-year-old Hopper is on the CineVegas board and made the party loop looking dapper in a navy-blue suit and lime-green tie.
"I first came here when I was a junior in high school in San Diego, to see Orson Welles," said Hopper, who told a version of the story when accepting the festival's Marquee Award in 2003. "It was in 1951 or 1952. He was doing a magic show and he was just a huge person. But I was a really big Orson Welles fan at that time and that was my introduction to Las Vegas."
A few years later, while filming "Rebel Without a Cause," Hopper returned to town with one of the film's co-stars, Corey Allen, whose father was famed Sands pit boss Carl Cohen.
"We started showing up in Vegas all the time after that," Hopper said. "We were 18 or 19, and we loved the Sands, and Carl took good care of us. It was a big thrill to be here. It still is for me."
(Cohen is part of Vegas lore for smashing Frank Sinatra in the mouth and dislodging two of Sinatra's front teeth during a 1967 altercation at the Sands.)
Later Friday the festival kicked off with the premiere of the predictably weird "Strangers With Candy"; dozens of fans had to be turned away from the full-house screening at the Palms' Brendan Theatres. During a post-screening Q&A, director and co-star Paul Dinello told the audience that the film's script was inspired "by a lot this" and pretended to smoke some sort of cigarette. It was a fitting way to spark what is billed as "The World's Most Dangerous Film Festival."
CineVegas continues today and runs through June 17; the schedule and additional info is available at www.cinevegas.com.
NoteMart
No contract needed: CineVegas Director of Programming Trevor Groth seems to have a secure place in the film festival universe. He spends six months of the year organizing and running Sundance in Park City, Utah, and the other six assembling the schedule for CineVegas. In his fifth year with CineVegas, Groth said he operates under a handshake agreement with festival organizers (the festival's founders are Danny and Robin Greenspun, whose family owns the Las Vegas Sun).
"It's informal, a good-faith agreement, and I'm fine with that," Groth said. "I'd like it to continue indefinitely, no question." ...
Hal of a show: Accepting a Lifetime Achievement Award in the theater during tonight's Tony Awards is legendary producer-director Hal Prince, who is busy working on the 90-minute "Phantom: Las Vegas Spectacular" at the Venetian. As he said last month, Prince is too busy with "Phantom" to fly to New York to take part in the show, which will be held at Radio City Music Hall and broadcast at 8 p.m. on CBS. Instead, he will provide a taped acceptance speech from the $40 million Phantom Theatre. The Vegas version of "Phantom" opens for previews on Monday night.
A side note on Mr. Prince: He recently (and spiritedly) defended "Phantom" to podcaster Steve Friess on Friess' "The Strip" interview program. When Friess suggested that, " ... when people walk out, it's kind of a downer," Prince said, "You couldn't be wronger - people go nuts, screaming. We don't like to blow our own horn, but people (have been) up on their feet screaming for 18 years in New York. It can't be a downer. It is a romantic melodrama. I'm not here to either protect or defend 'Phantom,' but it's not at a downer." Friess' show, which typically has great guests, is at www.thestrippodcast.com ...
Never a Doll moment: During the one-year anniversary of Pussycat Dolls Lounge at Pure at Caesars Palace, Denise Richards turned cathartic during an interview with a crew from "Entertainment Tonight."
Richards, you might know, is in one of those dicey separations from Charlie Sheen ("dicey" is to indicate a restraining order filed against Sheen) and has recently taken up with Richie Sambora of Bon Jovi. Problem there is, Richards is a friend of (or, today, a former friend of) Sambora's estranged wife, Heather Locklear.
With me?
Anyway, Richards responded to the hot lights by telling "ET" that "You can't help who you fall in love with. I just wish the friendship with Heather could have been saved." That marks the first substantive (if that term can be used here) comment from Richards about this sticky love quadrangle, but the real tragedy here is we seem to have forgotten Sambora's awesome guitar skills ...
Killer coverage: Rolling Stone magazine's Austin Scaggs, author of the Smoking Section column, has this to say in the mag's most recent issue about the Killers' upcoming album: " we got to hear nearly all of the sick (Editor's note: That's a positive reference) new tracks, like 'Bling' and 'Sam's Town.' If you thought the foursome couldn't top 'Hot Fuss,' you're way wrong." (Hey, if "Sam's Town" is an ode to the locals' casino on Boulder Highway, I'm buying the CD regardless of how it's reviewed.)
Also reported was that Brandon Flowers, the Vegas band's frontman, recently won $2,500 in the Palms' poker room with an ace-high straight ...
A good album, but this good? More Killers fodder: A survey conducted by the book British Hit Singles and Albums and the Web site www.NME.com listed "Hot Fuss" at No. 21 on its list of greatest albums of all time, finishing ahead of the Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" at No. 22 and the behind the Strokes' "Is This It?" at No. 20 ...
Funny, no one called me to write a forward or anything : A new coffee table book with the great title "Fabulous Las Vegas" has been published by Beautiful America Publishing Company. The book is filled with photographs by Larry Hanna and text by Jackie Brett ...
Ceremonial announcement: If you're like me, you don't believe journalists are awarded nearly enough. The National Lesbian & Gay Journalists Association is doing something to remedy that problem with its spring fundraiser and awards ceremony, set for today from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at a Sky Villa at the Palms. Announced will be the winners of NLGJA's Excellence in Journalism Contest. Cost is a $20 donation at the door.
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